Europeans will next year be able to take their smartphones anywhere within the EU and take pleasure in calls, texts, and information without paying a penny more than they do in your home. Expensive roaming fees are readied to be scrapped by July 1, 2014, after the European Commission voted to fast-track a major overhaul of telecoms regulation.

“They concurred that this time next year we’ll have done away with these charges,” a source informed British broadsheet The Telegraph. Detailed proposals for the new strategy are expected to be prepared within the next six weeks, lastly putting an end to the incredibly high fees European carriers charge for roaming.

But the carriers couldn’t lose as much as they think. The EC believes the step will urge smartphone users to use their devices more while they are abroad, especially to access the Web, making up what they may have lost in extreme fees.

The EC hopes that the modification will also encourage European carriers to consolidate. There are around 100 drivers across Europe’s 27 member states– numerous of which are had by the exact same parent company– and the EC believes this is far a lot of.

‘There are around 100 operators in Europe and only four in the United States,” one source stated. “That’s not sustainable if we are going to have a single market and financial investment. Europe has less 4G mobile broadband than Africa at the minute.”

Once roaming costs are out of the image, it’s hoped that foreign operators will contend for British clients– and vice versa. The EC is also hoping to see more carriers coming together to merge into one.